I began with 10 litres of medium fat milk and followed the recipe on cheesemaking.com

Acidifying and heating the milk:Heat the milk to 86F 30CAdd 1/2 tsp MM100 culture and ripen for 30 min.

Coagulation with rennet:Add 3 ml single strength rennet. At 13 minutes the milk will begin to thicken but allow the curd to develop 40 min. from time of rennet addition or until a very firm curd develops.

Cutting curds and releasing the whey:Check curd for firmness and then cut.Note: with full fat milk I make a precut of the curds cutting crosswise about 1 inch squares and allow the curds to firm for about 2-3 min. before I continue my final cutting to 1/2 - 3/8 inch pieces in 5 minutes. This will help avoid losing more fat as you cut the curds smaller.Now slowly and gently stir the curds for 15 min.

Washing CurdsRemove 1/3 of the whey, then add water at 130F 55C over 15 min. for a final temp of 98-102. 37-39 C (Higher temp for drier longer aging cheese). This is a very important step since it also removes some of the lactose or milk sugars which can be converted to acid by the lactic bacteria.Continue stirring gently to keep from matting for 30 minutes or until final moisture is reached according to the desired aging requirements (longer stirring = drier curds = longer aging).

Forming the Cheese:Mold filling is initially done under the whey to insure a tight curd mass with fewer mechanical holes.

Prepare molds and draining cloth and place into a pan large enough to retain whey.

Then pour free whey into the molds to warm them. Fill molds, allowing whey to rise 1-2” over top of curds.Add the follower plus 6 lbs of weight on top (approx 1 lb. of weight per lb. of final cheese yield) then allow this to consolidate the curds for 15 min.

Press Details

1. Remove mold with curds from the whey and place in press with 9 lbs of weight for 30 min.2. Remove from press turn the cheese rewrap and press at 16 lbs. for 30 min.3. Remove from press turn the cheese rewrap and press at 25 lbs. for 30 min.4. Remove from press turn the cheese rewrap and press at 25 lbs. for 6-8 hrs. (For drier long aging cheese this can be increased to 50 lbs and pressed overnight).5. Remove weight and cloth and allow the cheese to rest overnight in mold at 50F.

I think my rennet may be at end of life as it took 25 minutes to start setting. I extended the time out to 70 minutes when I had a clean cut.The rest of the make went without hitch and I layered the Peppercorns in between spoonfuls of the curd.

It is currently in it's 6-8 hour pressing and I will post pics tomorrow.